A St. Louis Cardinals blog

Cardinals sign LHP Romero

In a move that will likely complete the projected bullpen for 2012, the Cardinals have signed LHP J.C. Romero to a one-year deal worth $750,000.

Romero, 35, pitched for the Colorado Rockies and Philadelphia Phillies last season. However, he spent time in the minor league systems of the New York Yankees and Washington Nationals between those major league stints. Between the two teams he made 36 appearances with a 4.01 ERA. He will likely split the left handed specialist role with Marc Rzepczynski, who the Cardinals acquired via trade last season.

Romero has solid numbers against left handed batters in the last year, holding them to a line of .231/.318/.231. That’s pretty good, not as good as Rzepczynski though, and the Cardinals do have right handed relievers with better numbers against left handed batters, namely Eduardo Sanchez.

He has a reputation of being good against left handed batters, but has a habit of losing his control at times. Needless to say it should be an adventure. However, he is likely the second option out of the bullpen against left handers and the high leverage situations will likely (and hopefully) fall to Rzepczynski.

I think the most missed piece about his acquisition is that it adds another switch hitter to the lineup.